


Cinnamon

by PumpkinMaryam



Category: Stardew Valley (Video Game)
Genre: Anxiety Disorder, Chickens, Drinking to Cope, F/M, Nonbinary Main Character, Self Insert, Shane is an asshole but I love him a lot, Slow Burn, Social Anxiety, Socially awkward, Strangers to Lovers, inexperienced farmer, main character is autistic, main character is smol
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-03
Updated: 2020-08-23
Packaged: 2021-03-02 02:21:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,199
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23977378
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PumpkinMaryam/pseuds/PumpkinMaryam
Summary: The new farmer, Pumpkin, moves in and immediately regrets it, since she doesn't know what she's doing, and she has no friends in this new town. But eventually, she drags a certain chicken loving asshole kicking and screaming into some better habits, and maybe even a romance.
Relationships: Shane/Farmer - Relationship, Shane/Female Player (Stardew Valley)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 24





	1. A New Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> I've been sitting on this fic for a few weeks now, haha. I actually finished the first three chapters in a matter of 2 days, but I got stuck on chapter 4 for a while, and I didn't know how many chapters I wanted to pre-write before posting. After finishing chapter 4, I decided I needed to put this fanfic out in the world or it would KILL ME dfjksjd

Pumpkin would never understand why her grandfather had decided to pass his farm down to her, out of all of his grandchildren. She was sure her siblings or even her cousins would’ve been better suited to farm life, right? So why, on that fateful night, had he decided to give her the envelope.

Pumpkin leaned her head against the glass, feeling the vibrations of the bus scrambling her brains, as she listened to her travel playlist in hopes of feeling just the slightest bit less anxious about the whole “moving” thing. After all, she had just up and decided to completely up-root her life, and start over in a town she hadn’t even known existed until the day she had opened the letter. Before that day, she hadn’t even known that her grandfather had owned a farm, as she barely remembered him. Other than knowing he’d become ill, and had come into her parents’ care until he passed away.

Years later, after feeling rundown in her dead-end office job for the Joja corporation, she’d remembered the letter her grandfather had given her all those years before, and decided to open it out of curiosity, partially hoping it was some kind of riches allowing her to quit her job and never have to work again.

So to say there was just a slight bit of disappointment that it was a farm was an understatement--of course, even in her feelings of let down from this, she still didn’t want to sell the farm, since it was the only bit of her grandfather she really had left at this point.

The bus slowed to a stop, as it pulled into the bus stop, bringing the nearly 6 hour bus ride to an end, to her relief. She got out of her seat, grabbing the two bags of items she’d bothered to keep before leaving, and headed off of the bus to meet with the Mayor of Pelican Town.

Her heart sank when she saw a second person with him however.  _ Great. More people I have to interact with.  _

“Oh...I wasn’t...expecting a welcome wagon.” She said, faintly, just barely loud enough for the two people in front of her to hear.

“You must be Sarah Lum, Juan’s granddaughter!”

Pumpkin winced. “Um...Well….legally yes...but uh...I prefer to be called Pumpkin…” she said awkwardly, not expecting her first interaction with the leader of the township she would now be living in, was correcting him for using the wrong name.

“Oh! My mistake.” The Mayor surprisingly was fairly chill about correcting himself, and for that Pumpkin was grateful. 

“This is Robin! She’ll help you with anything related to your farm, like constructing buildings.” Mayor Lewis introduced the ginger woman standing next to him.

“Oh, uh, hi” Pumpkin awkwardly waved.

“Now let’s show you to your farm, so you can settle in. I’m sure you probably have many long days of that coming up.” Lewis chuckled heartily, as he began walking in the direction of Pickens Farm. Pumpkin followed behind, mostly keeping to herself, and avoiding conversation solely out of anxiety. 

When she got to the farm, she was horrified by the state it was in, and whined realizing that her work was really cut out for her. There were trees everywhere, weeds in what few spots there  _ weren’t  _ trees, and in any other free spot, the ground was littered with boulders and massive chunks of dead trees. 

And all of this? She would have to clean up herself. She felt her heart starting to pound as her anxiety heightened.

“I’m sure under all of  _ this _ ” Robin gestured to the mess that was the entire farm, “That there’s plenty of fertile soil for growing crops.”

“Mm….Mhm” Pumpkin mindlessly replied. 

She felt she could handle the crops part--she did have a small window garden back in the city, but having to clear the land before even being able to think about growing anything? The stress was compiling.

“Well, we both should be on our way! It’s getting late. You should probably head to bed too.” Lewis stepped into the conversation. “Tomorrow, I definitely recommend that you introduce yourself to some of the town’s citizens, maybe familiarize yourself with Pelican Town just a bit!”

With that, Mayor Lewis and Robin both left, leaving Pumpkin all alone. She pressed her forehead into the door of the small farmhouse, letting out a deep, shaky breath, as she felt tears begin to sting the corners of her eyes.

How was she going to do all of this? Alone, no less?

Should she take what was left of her savings and just go back to the city?

No. No, she didn’t want to feel like a failure. 

Not that she didn’t already, however.

She’d only been working for Joja Corp. for about 3 years, but those years barely had progress, or any hint that Pumpkin was going to move up in the ranks any time soon.

She would slave away at a computer 8 hours daily, doing mindless busy work, checking over spreadsheets for mistakes, despite barely understanding most of what they were even supposed to be about. 

What would it matter if she changed one number? Would anyone notice? She didn’t risk that, of course, but it was such mindless work, she found herself wondering what might happen if she moved a decimal point over, or even maybe deleted a single digit from the sheet.

The idea of going back to that was unthinkable. But yet, she wasn’t sure if this was the place for her either. She was feeling extreme conflict within herself.

As she finally entered the farmhouse--to find it absolutely  _ covered  _ in cobwebs-- she dropped her bags to the ground, and headed over to the bed. She removed the pillow, sheets, and blankets, as to not risk spiders in her bed, and tossed them aside to worry about washing later. 

Fortunately she did bring a blanket with her, as well as all of her plushies, a few of which just the right size to use as a make-shift pillow.

She stripped down to just her underwear, and laid on the old, scratchy mattress that was likely twice her age, so that she could go to sleep.

Like Mayor Lewis said. She had a long day ahead of her tomorrow.


	2. The Townsfolk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pumpkin heads out on the town to meet the others, and get supplies that she needs for her survival on the farm.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've actually had this chapter done for a while, I've only been sitting on it because I wanted to make a bit more progress on the fic before I release any more chapters. So I don't really have a set schedule, I kinda am just gonna post these when I feel I have a comfortable enough space between what I have done already, and what I'm currently working on.

The following morning, Pumpkin was up earlier than she had ever been in  _ years _ , as she had never woken up at 6 for anything other than school. She got out of bed and fished some clean clothes out of her duffle bag, and haphazardly threw them on, unconcerned with coordination today. 

At least, that  _ was _ how she was going to do it, until she remembered she would be meeting everyone for the first time, in town, today. 

So she tiredly went to her bathroom, and washed her face, and opted to at least put on a little bit of eyeliner, and some lipstick. Then she went and grabbed some clothes from her bag that weren’t just a tee with yoga pants--she figured she’d probably want to save her more comfortable clothes for farming anyways. She threw on a purple button up dress that had a matching ribbon, which she tied tightly around her waist, in order to keep her stomach from poking out too much, like it usually did, and over that she threw on a blue striped cardigan.

She grabbed what little money she had, stuffing it into a little purse, and heading out towards town.

For a spring day it was already very muggy outside, and Pumpkin could begin to feel herself sweat due to the heat coupled with the physical activity of walking into town. By the time she reached the general store, she was panting just a bit, and exhausted, as she leaned against the wall after entering. 

After getting her composure back, she decided to attempt introducing herself to the first person she saw. She looked around and spotted a girl with purple hair, and anxiously walked over.

“Uh….h-hi….” She said, just barely audible.

“OH! You must be the new farmer! Sarah?”

“Um….yes...and no...I go by Pumpkin, actually…”

“Oh! Okay, sorry! I’m Abigail, it’s nice to meet you, Pumpkin!”

“Thanks...um….you too…” She said awkwardly. 

“My dad actually owns this shop, if you need seeds he has them” Abigail said, informatively. 

“Oh….cool” Pumpkin replied, fiddling with her hands anxiously.

“Um...anyways I’m gonna be heading out but...see you around?” 

“Uh yeah...I’m sure you will.” Pumpkin said, and immediately kicked herself, thinking about how rude she must have sounded. She wasn’t off to all that great of a start.

After perusing the shelves of Pierre’s General Store, she realized that the prices were just a little too much more than she was willing to pay--she needed more than just seeds after all, as she was a fan of  _ not _ starving to death.

She headed back out, and decided to see if there was anywhere else she could buy what she needed. As she wandered out, she nearly bumped into a blonde girl, who looked slightly annoyed.

“Uh...sorry...Hi?”

“You have lipstick on your teeth.”

Pumpkin whined, and immediately pulled out her phone to check if that was true. Unfortunately it was, so she quickly rubbed it off.

The blonde turned, and headed up the stairs, next to the general store.

Pumpkin, now feeling awfully insecure now, kinda just wandered around the town, too anxious to introduce herself to anyone else.

At least, until an old woman approached her.

“Are you alright, dear? You look like someone’s hurt you.” she said.

“M-me? O-oh I’m fine.” Pumpkin fiddled with her hands.

“You must be the new farmer...oh dear, I’ve forgotten your name, I’m sorry.” the old woman replied to her.

“Oh...uh...I’m Pumpkin.” she answered.

“Oh, what a precious name!” the old lady cooed. “I’m Evelyn, but you can call me Granny.” Evelyn smiled at Pumpkin.

Weirdly, this made Pumpkin feel a lot more comfortable, finally someone didn’t call her by her deadname today. 

“You should meet my grandson! I’m sure you’ll get along very well!” Evelyn added on.

“Oh uh...I’m sure I will...um...if he lives here.” Pumpkin stammered out.

“He does. He should be around here somewhere…” Evelyn squinted, trying to spot her grandson. “Oh there he is!” Evelyn walked Pumpkin over to a boy about her age, who was definitely very muscular, and was holding some kind of sports ball.

“Um….hi” Pumpkin said awkwardly.

Alex was making eye contact...but not with her eyes.

This made Pumpkin feel super nervous, and she was now uncomfortable again.

“Um...my eyes are...up here….” she said awkwardly.

“Oh Alex, what have I told you about staring, it’s very rude.” Evelyn chided her grandson.

“Oh...sorry, I guess” he said, shrugging it off. “What’s your name anyways?”

“Um…”

He chuckled a bit. “Well, nice to see you, ‘Um’.”

“Her name is Pumpkin” Evelyn gently corrected him.

“Oh...Weird name, but okay.”

Pumpkin sucked in her cheeks. Why did he think she cared what he thought of her name?

“Alex.” Evelyn gently chided again.

“Right. Sorry, again” he huffed “I’m Alex.” He put his hand out to shake Pumpkin’s, but she just stared at it.

“Do you not know how to shake hands?”

“Huh? Oh...um...no I do...I uh….have somewhere I need to be.” She walked in any direction, just to get away from this situation that was making her so uncomfortable.

A man with a mustache, standing off to the side spotted her, and headed over.

“You must be the new farmer! I was wondering when I would get to meet you.” he said, having a gentle and anxious tone to him.

“Um...hi…”

“I’m Harvey, the town’s doctor.” he introduced himself.

Of course Pumpkin immediately felt anxious. She didn’t really have many good experiences with doctors in the past, and wondered if he was anything like the other doctors she’d seen. She wondered if he even acknowledged mental illness, if a patient brought up a concern.

“Are...you okay?” he added on, shaking her from her trance. 

“Um...I...have to go.” She turned around, and bolted. 

It was starting to get a little late anyways, and she wondered where the time had even gone.

In the distance, she spotted a Joja mart, and despite hating the company, she almost felt relieved.  _ Finally, some food I can fucking afford.  _

But, in the process of running to the store, to get this shopping trip over with, she ran headfirst into a man who was standing outside, nearly knocking him into the tree behind him.

“Hey! Watch it!” the man hissed at her, glaring in such a way that Pumpkin could almost feel a chill deep in her soul.

“Oh...Oh shit...I’m so sorry” she whimpered, and tried to help him regain his balance, but he wasn’t having it. 

“Don’t fucking touch me.” he said flatly.

“I’m...sorry…” She felt really bad. “Um...not the greatest way to meet, huh?” she added on, awkwardly, with a forced and very fake sounding laugh.

He just stared at her, tiredly, wishing she would go away.

“Um...I’m Pumpkin.” she muttered out, awkwardly 

“I don’t care.” He said, and turned to head back into the store.

Pumpkin realized he worked at the very place she was about to go and get her groceries from, and felt anxious.

She wasn’t naive, and could tell this man did  _ not  _ like her in the slightest, even if they’d only just met. She worried if he’d judge her for the kind of food she buys. Or what if when her time of the month came, he judged her when she had a run to the store to get pads?

She whimpered anxiously.

But then her stomach growled. She hadn’t eaten anything yet, and this was her only chance to get groceries before it got dark. 

She had no choice. She had to risk judgement.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed the chapter!! I left it on a cliffhanger because I actually wrote it all as one chapter at first, but felt it might be too long for only the second chapter, since my plan was to try and make the story have gradually longer chapters (with exceptions since some chapters just...come out shorter, even if I use all the beats on my outline)


	3. A Nice Deed?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shane does something....nice?

She gulped and headed to the doors of Joja Mart. She walked through the very empty and sterile feeling store, the store that was so quiet she could hear her heart pounding in her ears.

Would it kill them to at least play some music?

She messed with her hands as she went to look for something she could make into meals for the next couple of days, and saw him. He was stocking the shelves in the pet supplies aisle.

The smallest bit of relief washed over her, knowing he wasn’t going to be the one ringing her up, at least. She felt even more relieved he wasn’t in an aisle she needed anything from.

Finally she found the aisle that had all of the canned goods, and grabbed herself a couple cans of black beans. She could live with eating those for a few days, but she also made sure to grab a bag of tortillas as well, so she’d have something to eat the beans with. She grabbed a jug of orange juice to wash it down, and a jar of peanut butter so she would have another option to be able to have some variety.

She headed over to the checkout to buy her groceries, and removed her backpack so she could put them in after.

She was relieved she was able to get this done without any issue.

At least, until…

“That’ll be 12.58” the cashier said lifelessly, staring into Pumpkin’s soul.

She pulled out her money and realized she only had 11 dollars. Defeated she did the walk of shame back to the aisle she’d gotten it from, and put it back, as she felt tears sting her eyes. She felt so humiliated and depressed she hadn’t even noticed he had begun stocking the aisle she was in.

It didn’t really take him a whole lot of deduction to know what happened--she didn’t have enough for a jar of peanut butter, and had to put it back.

Judging by her reaction, however, it became very obvious this was the only food she could afford. As much as he tried to ignore it, he felt a weird feeling--of pity maybe?-- bubbling in the pit of his stomach.

His shift was over in about 5 minutes.

He watched as Pumpkin sadly trudged back over to the cashier, and paid for what food she could afford, and put it into her backpack.

She left the store, still feeling defeated, and like she wanted to curl into a little ball right then and there.

How was she going to survive out here if she couldn’t even afford to buy groceries? Her stomach rumbled more, but she only felt sick.

“Hey!” a voice called out from behind her.

She froze up and her blood went cold.

It was  _ him.  _ Had he seen her put the peanut butter back? Was he going to make fun of her for being poor?

He ran to catch up to her, and before she knew it she was face to face with him.

“Um...Here.” he grumbled out, and shoved it into her hands. 

It was a jar of peanut butter.

“What?” She was confused, and said hoarsely.

“This doesn’t change anything.” He said flatly.

“I-i’ll pay you ba--”

“No need, I stole it.”

Pumpkin gulped. 

Had he really just risked his job, to give her a stupid jar of peanut butter?

“Can...I at least get your name?” she asked

“Shane.” he said flatly “Don’t wear it out.” He was already walking away from her.

Pumpkin felt so confused, and conflicted. 

The first person to make a very nice gesture to her also clearly hated her? What was she going to make of this?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the shorter chapter! And the long wait...I was out of town for over a month and had no computer access hhh...so I couldn't even post the chapters I had that are finished. I'll try to update 2 more times before I have to leave again!!!!


	4. The Saloon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After a stressful day of failing at being a competent farmer, Pumpkin goes to the saloon, on Marnie's treat.

Days later, Pumpkin was struggling to chop wood. She desperately needed money, as her crops were nowhere near ready for harvest, but the only thing she could think to do was chop wood or bust boulders around her farm.

The only problem was she didn’t have the arm strength needed to do so.

As she placed each log to be chopped, she struggled to get the axe high enough to have the force needed to split it. After the fourth log that she got the axe embedded in, she’d had enough, and tossed it aside, as she felt tears building up.

She collapsed to the ground and began sobbing. How was she going to do this all alone?

This farm was more work than she could handle, and just the idea of doing all of this, by herself, with no help from anyone at all--it made her want to give up. It made her feel defeated.

This was too much work for just one person to do, and she began to even wonder how her grandfather did this for  _ years.  _ Did she just not have what it takes?

She was such a failure, and she couldn’t take it.

She was sure that her grandfather was watching from the other world, judging her, and regretting ever having given her his farm.

Just like she always had, she felt like the family screw-up. The one who only was able to fuck up things, and dissappoint everyone else. 

“I’m sorry grandpa…” she said hoarsely under her breath, as she continued sobbing into the dirt.

Then, a faint gust of wind, followed by a tiny meow, and some footsteps.

“Oh Yoba! Dear, are you okay?” said the voice of an older woman, with a faint southern drawl to her speech.

Pumpkin looked up, and swiped her arm across her eyes, and saw a lady who was old enough to be her mother’s age, holding a tiny tuxedo kitten.

“If you’re wondering about the cat, I found him nosing around in your garbage. The poor thing seemed to be abandoned.” the woman shook her head “I decided to ask if maybe you would like to keep him?”

Pumpkin only had to take one look into this cat’s eyes to know that her only option was to say yes. 

“I’ll take him.” she said, and then sniffled. 

The cat excitedly mewled, and jumped out of the woman’s arms, and into Pumpkin’s lap, immediately purring, and nuzzling against her stomach. That was enough to get her to smile faintly.

“Anyways, I don’t believe we’ve properly met” said the woman “I’m Marnie. I live at the ranch next door to your farm.”

“Oh, hi...I’m Pumpkin” she said, sniffling again.

“Now, I must know, what were you crying about?”

“I...just feel so stressed out…” she wiped her face with the sleeve of her flannel “I don’t know the first thing about farming, and I’ve had all of this…” She sniffled and gestured to the entirety of the farm “Thrust onto me. I feel like I’m letting my grandfather down for being so terrible at this.”

“It’s just a new situation.” Marnie said, leaning down to Pumpkin’s level, and patting her shoulder in a comforting way. “Every good farmer had to start somewhere. When I first took over the ranch, I wasn’t sure if I could handle it either.” she added on, hoping to assure the new farmer that everything would eventually get better.

“I-I guess...but I don’t know anyone here and I just feel so alone...I don’t even have anyone to talk to.” She sniffled

“Well, I’m here” Marnie shrugged “And if you need a friend closer to your age, maybe I can introduce you to my nephew.” she added on

“O-okay….” She sniffled a little more.

Marnie looked up at the sky, seeing that it was nearing sunset. “I think I even know where he is right now. I can introduce you two today, if you’d like?”

“O-okay…” Pumpkin repeated “I-I should probably change out of my farm clothes.” she stood herself up, and walked to the farm house, holding Morton.

“Alright, I’ll be waiting right here.”

\--

After changing into a tank top, hoodie, leggings, and slip on shoes, putting her hair up, she left with Marnie to go to the saloon, the night starting to get darker with each minute that the walk took.

Once they had finally arrived, Marnie led her in, and she scanned the premises for her nephew.

“Shane’s gotta be around here somewhere….” Marnie finally spotted him. “Oh, there he is. In the corner.”

“....sh-Shane?” she said nervously.

“He could probably use a friend as much as you do.” Marnie said, not noticing Pumpkin’s uncertainty. “Here, buy you and him a drink.” She handed Pumpkin some money.

“O-oh….I’ll pay you back.” Pumpkin said, just as nervously.

“No need, consider it a welcoming gift.”

Pumpkin nodded and nervously went over to the man at the bar. “Two….beers please.” She said quietly and nervously, as she basically shoved the money into his face.

He took what was needed, and handed her the change--leaving enough for Pumpkin to possibly even get a meal later--and a blue haired woman behind the bar filled two mugs, and placed them to the right of Pumpkin. 

She picked both mugs up by the handles, and awkwardly walked over to Shane. God these mugs were heavy. As she approached him, she felt her left wrist start to give out from the weight, right as she got to Shane, she nearly dumped the whole mug onto him--but he managed to grab the other side of it before it could fully tilt.

“.....THIS IS FOR YOU.” She anxiously spat out, feeling humiliated from nearly dumping the whole thing onto him.

“Thanks.” he said.

Maybe it was a trick of the light, but she could have sworn she saw the corners of his mouth upturn.

“I’m surprised you’re even old enough to buy these though.” He teased, his mouth now even further resembling a smile.

“Ahaha” Pumpkin said, shaking her head at him. “I may have a baby face, but I’m very much an adult.”

“Right.” He said, a hint of sarcasm in his voice, as he straightened his back, nearly towering over her. He was definitely just barely average height for a man his age, but he still was much taller than Pumpkin. 

Pumpkin took a sip of her beer and choked it down. It wasn’t terrible, but oh boy, it was not the kind of drinks she was into. 

“So what  _ is  _ your deal anyways?” Shane tilted his head. “Like, did you move here just to annoy me specifically or?” He joked, his voice having a small hint of laughter to it.

“No, I came here to annoy everyone.” She replied, taking another, bigger sip. “I mean, what’s  _ your  _ deal?” she said, accidentally burping, and then putting her hand over her mouth.

Shane shrugged, and drank a long swig from his mug. He looked her over while drinking, and when he pulled the mug from his mouth, he had an almost full smile. Of course, it faded when he noticed she was looking directly at him. 

Pumpkin couldn’t fully tell...but it almost felt like he was taking a liking to her.

Maybe he was just friendlier when he wasn’t sober.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm going to be out of town for a bit so this might be the last update for a while, but I do have some chapters stockpiled. I just want to get ahead so if I get writer's block I don't hold up the story with it--


End file.
